Marine Reservations

Between 2006 and 2012, the Netherlands is required to designated protected areas in the North Sea, according to European and global obligations. Directives have been set up by the EC and in the OSPAR treaty for selecting and managing these areas. As of 2012, these nature reservations will be part of a worldwide network of nature regions. The establishment of marine reservations should also lead to a recovery of the fish populations.

In the Planning Note, the following five regions have been considered for protected areas with unusual ecological value: the coastal zone, the Frisian Front, the Central Oystergrounds, the Cleaverbank and the Doggersbank. This plan is being worked out further in the Management Plan North Sea 2015. The decision to present all but the Oystergrounds is expected in 2008. The other areas on the chart also contain valuable nature but have not yet been included on the list of areas to be presented.

The four areas have been tentatively presented to the European Commission, who will determine which activities will and will not be allowed. Afterwards, the areas will be definitely reported in Brussels.

Greenpeace wants the reservations to come as quickly as possible and to designate a total of 40% of the North Sea as nature reserve. For the remaining 60%, sustainable management should be enforced. During a campaign in August 2004, the lobbyists symbolically closed off the Doggersbank with buoys. In this way, they tried to obstruct the fishermen from fishing. The fishermen do not see reservations as a solution and plead for a temporary fishing ban in areas at times when too much bycatch is caught.

Greenpeace also took action in August 2008. In order to attract attention to the slow establishment of sea reservations according to the Natura 2000 Directive, it dumped 323 large blocks of granite on the Sylter Outer Reef. This area off the coast of Sylt has been designated by the Germans as a nature reservation, however shrimp fisheries and euro cutters are still allowed as long as the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) hasn't given advice concerning fishery management in the area. Greenpeace found that it was taking too long and wanted to quicken the ban for fisheries with this action. In particular, the organization wants the beam trawlers to disappear with their tickler chains which badly damage the bottom fauna.

The fisheries reacted furiously to Greenpeace's actions. Ben Daalder (chairman of the Federation of Fishery Organizations) called the action improper and felonious. He pointed out the responsibility the fishery sector has taken in the area of sustainability and the many projects they are involved in. For example, the 'social covenant North Sea fisheries' has been agreed upon between fishermen, the World Wildlife Foundation and Stichting de Noordzee, in which they have agreed to work together on making the fisheries more sustainable. Various parties mention the plaice box and declare that beam trawlers are not allowed to fish in the Sylter Outer Reef. Even the Minister for Nature and Fisheries Gerda Verburg judged the action sharply.

Whale expert Kees Camphuyssen (NIOZ) doubted the Greenpeace action. According to him, the rock blocks can form a threat to porpoise populations in the area. The stones create artificial reefs, which is an ideal habitat for various species of fish. Such reefs form a good place for standing rigging fisheries to fish. It is exactly this form of fishing which catch porpoises as by-catch and therefore forms a tremendous danger for mammals, according to Camphuyssen.

Greenpeace received support unexpectedly from the Planning Bureau for Living Areas. In the Nature Balance 2008, they also plead for protected areas in the sea 'where marine mammals can grow up undisturbed'. Their studies have shown that even though the North Sea has become cleaner in recent years, nature still hasn't recovered. Only half of the original nature remains and many fish species are still in the danger zone due to high fishery pressure. The researchers plead for better spatial harmony in the North Sea to make more space for nature areas adjacent to shipping, sand exploitation and wind parks. Let various activities take place in designated zones. At the moment, the functions overlap each other. By zoning, the emphasis in the one area can be nature while in another area fisheries.
Nevertheless, there are sceptical people who do not believe that establishing sea reservations is the solution to overfishing, but a start. One of them is the pensioned fishery biologist Niels Daan (Wageningen Imares). He believes that closing sea regions in the North Sea will only be effective if 30-40 % is protected and not just a couple of areas. Fishery biologist Daniel Pauly (University of British Columbia) is in favor of a worldwide establishment of sea reservations, but wants to change the present situation in the fisheries: "We must close the oceans for fisheries, with the exception of those areas where it is allowed."

The situation concerning the mussel-seed fisheries, which was blocked by the court due to the damage caused by this form of fisheries to nature in the Wadden Sea, resulted in the Ministry for Nature having no rush in establishing nature reserves in the North Sea.

Protected regions in the British part of the North Sea are also being designated. The British government has chosen the Norfolk Banks and the Saturn Reef, two areas often fished by Dutch beam-trawlers.